Tuesday Review Day! And More...

Welcome to my late night, late (as in overdue) Tuesday Review Day! As I've mentioned, homework is ridiculous; papers, essays, textbook readings, discussion posts, more reading, online assignments and more papers and essays. It's only the first week of OCTOBER! I'm doing all this reading and none of it is any fun. Not one fairy! Hmph.

In the midst of all that, I found some time to read a short book...uh, a dirty book, you might say. Okay, you'd definitely say it was a dirty book :-) From time to time I like to indulge in an adult read. Plus they're often short and therefore a great selection to squeeze in between assignments!

But please remember! 18 and over only! I'm not even sure 18 is old enough. I know I wouldn't want my daughter reading it at 18, so 21. 21 and over.

I have a little more than just dirty talk for you. A couple of new titles and what's new on my shelf and I'll even mention some big releases this coming this month.

First, a quick review:

Double Punch 
Written by: Tilly Greene
Publication date: February 22, 2010 by Tease Publishing, LLC
Released in paperback and ebook
222 pages - (somebody had a thing for 2's - check the pub date and pg count)

3 stars


Synopsis: Mount Olympus is buzzing with activity - the challenge for immortality is on! Castor and Pollux, universally known as the twins who aren't really twins, have been existing amongst the stars as the Gemini constellation for years. Without any warning, Zeus pulls them from the sky, and offers both men a second chance at immortality. The challenge is simple: they have one year on Earth to find their true mates. Every type of woman crosses their paths and while they make up for lost time when it comes to seeking sexual gratification, none of their partners complete them. None, that is, until they meet the stunning woman who they both claim as a mate. 

Anissa George knows how lucky she was to be adopted as a child from a Bhutanese orphanage. Her family heaped love, an understanding that there was nothing wrong with being different, and to always live life to the fullest. To do that, she put an educational computer game concept together, and the company she wants to work with, took on her project. Once she settled the work issue, it was time to pay attention to her non-existent love life. Before she can look for a date, two men who fit her perfectly arrive at her side, asking her to choose one. Impossible. WARNING: The fire starts with one on one loving and then the flames rage out of control when they become three.

My Review: I found this little number during my last trip to Borders, days before they closed. I've always love Greek mythology, so when my best friend pointed it out, I  didn't see a reason not to take it home. She bought a copy too.

Right off the bat, the first thing that grabs you, and not the frisky way, is the way Zeus speaks. He preaches to his sons Pollux and Castor not to belittle his infinite existence by calling him "Dad", yet he himself talks like some hoodlum off the street. As though he lives in New York City as opposed to Mount Olympus. Then there are no descriptions of the twins for a really long time. They keep telling you that they're twins but not twins, yet the author never really goes into detail about it.

So the not-twins get a chance to live on Mount Olympus again IF they both find their true mate. They get one year. Well they spend this whole time "playing the field", if you will, instead of looking for love. With two weeks left they finally meet "the one". Only it's "the same one" for both of them. So the games begin as they both try to win her over via seduction. Twins...but not twins. Consider this: they have been side-by-side in the sky (as stars but every bit conscious, watching people on Earth) for centuries, and centuries as men before that. Essentially they are brothers but they are not identical.

Pollux is smooth, charming, gentlemanly. No rush with this one, he takes his time.

Castor is straight to the point. Just as much the gentleman with the right amount of bad.

In contrast to the way Zeus speaks, when the twins and Anissa speak, it's far more proper. Much of the dialog was corny and hard to read and the editing was really bad. Tons of typos. On the bright side, there were clever parts of the book, quips and play-on-words, and such.

The crazy part of the storyline was the alternative to what would happen if the DIDN'T find their true mate within the year: they were sentenced to live in Hades in the underworld! It's as if they were on trial for committing a crime! Why couldn't they just go back to the stars if they couldn't find love? I don't know.


Overall: A fun, quick read. Not a "can't miss". But fun. Perfect for just three bucks! I wouldn't have paid more for it.

Who else is desperately waiting for Wings 4?? April 28, 2012 is waaaay too far! At least we don't have to call it Wings 4 anymore, the title of the next installment is....

DESTINED!

Yes, Aprilynne Pike is aware that the new House of Night sequel is also titled Destined, but she really wanted that to be the title because she said it was really fitting. I hope that means Laurel gets her act together and chooses Tamani and goes to live in Avalon. Because THAT is what is destined! The books are also released months apart, so there should be little confusion. House of Night #9 comes out October 25th, 2011 for those that would like to know.

Did you know that Miley Cyrus was picked to play Laurel in the Wings movie?? I came across this on some website that will remain nameless because it's obvious they didn't know what they were talking about. They were announcing that Miley Cyrus was going to "grow wings" for her next movie; Laurel doesn't have wings, she has a giant flower that grows out of her back! Big Difference!! I think Miley is the wrong choice for this part. I love Miley, but she's not Laurel.

The next Firelight novel has been titled as well: HIDDEN!

I can't wait to see the cover for this one! According to goodreads.com, it is due out in 2012 but does not yet have an exact release date.

I think I've ranted long enough. I'll save the October new releases and my new additions for next time. Time to call it a night. Happy endings!

Tuesday Review Day!

Hello Everyone! I've missed you so! I've got tons to share with you this week: a hot and steamy review to keep you in the spirit of Valentine's Day, a review of my awesome weekend in New York City at the American Museum of Natural History and Hayden Planetarium (with pics) and oodles of book news!! So be sure to come back for all the juicy posts to come!


Now, some of you might have been expecting my review of Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, but I have a confession about that. Even though I LOVE the Mortal Instruments series, and I mean LOVE IT - I can not get into Clockwork Angel. I really want to read it and I will, but for now I will have to put it off. I just can't get into it. I'm hoping once City of Fallen Angels is released in a few months, that I will read it right away and therefore be in the mood pick up Clockwork again.


Anyway, time for an ADULTS ONLY REVIEW!!

Wicked Nights (The Castle of Dark Dreams, #1)

Publication date: April 4, 2006

Released in Paperback, ebook and Kindle

295 pages

Adult Romance

5 stars

Synopsis (from a Barnes & Noble review): Nina Bangs goes into overdrive with this funny, sexy paranormal adventure, the first in a trilogy starring three ultra-handsome brothers who run the Castle of Dark Dreams, an adult fantasy theme park. The plot kicks off as radio talk show host Donna Nolan agrees to broadcast live from the Castle for a week -- anything to stop the phone-ins from crazy women raving about their nonstop sex with vampires, demons, and who knows what else. She's unprepared for meeting the park's director, Eric McNair, secretly a vampire Highlander, the ultimate in sexy, sinister Uber-males. He's definitely going to meet his match with her, too. Throw in a cosmic sexual troublemaker, a telepathic cat, a red-hot pirate fantasy, and more chocolate than the town of Hershey will ever see, and you've got another entertaining, romantic smorgasbord from the author of Night Bites: Ginger Curwen

How I Came to Read This: First I read My Wicked Vampire, number four in the Castle of Dark Dreams series (my review here) and loved it! Then my friend plucked Wicked Nights out of a bin at the dollar store!

My Review: This series is about an adult entertainment theme park run by three immortal brothers: Conall, Brynn and Eric. Their roles in the castle are to play, well...themselves, actually. I won't reveal what exactly they are (except we already know Eric's a vampire), the others will be a strange and pleasant surprise! I have to admit, I've never heard of an immortal like Brynn before and I'd love to see him action! The Castle of Dark Dreams is investigated by Donna Nolan, a radio talk-show host of the third kind where people call in with stories about their encounters with creatures of the night and aliens, etc. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this book as much as the other because character names are really important to me and honestly, Donna Nolan, is an awful name! If I pick up a book that sounds really good but it's main character has a name like Rondolfo or Burt or some other awful name I couldn't imagine saying in my head over and over, I absolutely cannot read it. How can find imagine a sexy man with a name like Thane? Fortunately for Donna Nolan, her personality makes up for her names short comings. She's used to dealing with wack-jobs in her line of business so when she gets to the Castle and meets the cast, she assumes they all take their roles way too seriously but she never assumes any of them actually are the characters they portray.

Eric McNair, or Eric the Evil, resident vampire as he's known around the castle, really brings the heat. I'm talking chocolate melting, window steaming, hair curling hotness! He doesn't brood over his existence, he embraces it - sexually, that is. He's survived 800 years because he knows how to keep people at arms length, never letting anyone get too close to him, never anything more than one-night stands. Until he meets a certain talk-show lady that he just can't seem to leave alone. The more time they spend together, the more they find themselves exploring their deepening feelings for each other. Anytime these two are in the same room, you could cut the sexual tension with a KY Jelly spreading knife!

Nina Bangs is so good at describing a scene, you can literally feel the heat of Eric's gaze, his breath on the nape of your neck, his hands on your...

Uh, where was I? Oh right. Whenever I reopened this book, I fell right back into the Castle of Dark Dream. This place is so mysterious, I wish I could see it for myself. Experience the role playing for myself, having a sexy vampire chase me around while I scream at the top of lungs, then having an equally sexy warrior come to my rescue and scoop me up and take me away! *sigh*

Who Should Read This: Definitely recommended for 18yrs and up! Not only is it heavy on the sex and romance, but it's funny too! And what's a good romance without a bad guy to bring two people closer together? It isn't trashy-sexy either. It's sensual, erotic and...what else can I say: delicious!

Here is a little teaser from Wicked Nights! Again, I have to stress, adults only. Enjoy!

As he kissed her neck, her breast, and then closed his lips around each nipple and teased it to a hard nub with his tongue, she raked her fingers through his hair and gripped his shoulders with clawed fingers.

Arching her back, she moaned her pleasure as he gripped her bottom and slid his tongue over her stomach. She lifted her hips and spread her legs wider, inviting him in even as something important tried to make itself heard over the drumroll of spiraling sexual excitement. 

Eric had evidently reached his own threshold of endurance, because with a muttered oath he lifted her hips, and she felt the nudge of his sex between her legs. She was open, moist, and her body was clenching  in delicious anticipation.

Whew! Steamy huh?

Weekend Wind-Up

Hello Everyone!

I hope all of you had a great weekend! I had a great start to mine. It started Thursday with two beautiful bouquets of flowers for me and my daughter, a new IPod Nano on Friday, and six new books from Borders on Saturday - all because someone loves me *blushes*!

 Allow me to share with you these six amazing titles!

 

Click the titles to go to each books Goodreads page: Blessed, My Soul To Steal, Slice of Cherry, Shadowspell, Entice and Once in a Full Moon.

It's not over yet! On top of all that gooey goodness, today while I was at my local dollar store, my bestie and I were digging through the paperback bin and she reads a title aloud thinking it would get a laugh out of me. Little did she know, she had just plucked a small paperback I'd been looking for! Wicked Nights by Nina Bangs is the first part of the Castle of Dark Dreams set. The first one I read was My Wicked Vampire, number four of the set (they don't seem to run in order). You can find my review of it here. Well, anyway, they are chock-full of paranormal romance! There wasn't anything overly sexual about it, but I would recommend it for mature audiences only!

Fledgling by Octavia E, Butler Review

FLEDGLING

Written by: Octavia E. Butler

Publication date: January 2, 2007 (first published 2005)

Released in Paperback

4 stars

Synopsis: Shori is a mystery. Found alone in the woods, she appears to be a little black girl with traumatic amnesia and near-fatal wounds. But Shori is a fifty-three-year-old vampire with a ravenous hunger for blood, the lost child of an ancient species of near-immortals who live in dark symbiosis with humanity. Genetically modified to be able to walk in daylight, Shori now becomes the target of a vast plot to destroy her and her kind. And in the final apocalyptic battle, her survival will depend on whether all humans are bigots - or all bigots are human...

How I Came to Read This: I found this book on Goodreads.com and it looked very interesting.

My Review: This book was like nothing else I've read. It was well thought out and intelligent. The story revolves around Shori, a vampire who wakes up near death from burns and physical damage, with absolutely no memory of how she ended up like that. We follow her as she heals, meets people, rediscovers her past -- and pursues judgment against those who almost destroyed her and her family. Her lack of memory allows us to follow along as she rediscovers what it means to be an Ina vampire. There was only one character that I really connected to. It wasn't because I could relate to his situation but because he was human, likable and kind of funny.

This story was so original, so creative. It doesn't focus on background description as much as describing what Shori sees, feels and re-learns after her injury.

Who Should Read This: Fledgling is NOT a young adult story. It has adult situations that I'm pretty sure a lot of people would find disturbing. I recommend this to adults who love vampire stories but can't get into the younger characters and their high school situations.

Review of Midnight Cravings

MIDNIGHT CRAVINGS

Writers: Michele Hauf, Karen Whiddon, Lori Devoti, Anna Leonard and Bonnie Vanak
Publication date: April 1, 2009
Released in Paperback

4 1/2 stars

Synopsis: A COLLECTION OF SIX SEXY BITES

Under the cover of night exists the dark and sensuous world of Midnight Cravings - a world conjured up in six seductive tales of paranormal passion. Follow some of the genre's best writers, including Michele Hauf, Karen Whiddon and Lori Devoti, on a mesmerizing journey where the extraordinary comes breathtakingly close with every turn of the page.

So, please, come on in. The first bite won't hurt, and its likely that you will crave another...and another...and...

How I Came to Read This: It was just something on the shelf I saw, picked up and took home because it looked like a good read.

My Review: I was half right. The first 3-4 stories were really good where the last three seemed to get too involved to just be short stories. To review this book, I actually ended up reading it all over again!

WARNING: This book is seriously sexy!! So yeah, adults only!!

Racing the Moon by Michele Hauf: This was my favorite of all the short stories. I loved this cheeky little tale about two shapeshifters; the female, a cat and the male, a wolf. Come on, really, what's sexier than a wolf?? They try to fight the strong attraction to each other because a cat and wolf aren't exactly buddy buddy. But a rainstorm and a full moon only means trouble, and by trouble I mean the hot, sexy kind!

Both characters have a great sense of humor but they also have their own little background stories of troubled pasts and loneliness. Dean is so hot! He's such a man's man who goes after what he wants - and needs - with a bad boy kick to him. Sunday has her own "demons" to deal with, making it harder for her to give into the temptation that is, Dean Maverick!

Mate of the Wolf Karen Whiddon: This was a very sweet story with a happy ending. I liked the switch of narrators, getting both views of the same story.

Kane Webster. A sexy vampire with a british accent? Sounds like Edward Pattinson or Robert Cullen! Either way sounds pretty yummy to me!! He's kind, thoughtful, patient and giving.

I didn't care for Allie's use of dog phrases, like, "Hellhounds" and "Oh my Dog". It made me think of her living in an actual dog world; where everything is made for and all about dogs.

I enjoyed reading this story a second time so much, I forgot to stop and take notes! I wish I could have more of Kane and Allie. A whole novel - a whole series!

Captured by Lori Devoti: This is a tragic story. Trapped in a breeding mill against your will. It's an interesting concept; a way we don't often see shapeshifters.

Leve is not your usual damsel in distress. She's determined to protect herself, even if it means fighting to the death. She won't let it happen again. Both she and Gray are strong characters. They both want their freedom, no matter the cost. I sympathize for Leve; she's had it pretty rough. But her determination and strength are what define her, not the tragedies that scar her. Gray is an alpha male - no way he's going to let a few punk elves keep him prisoner.

I think this connection between Gray and Leve is the kind of bond you feel after you've been through a traumatic experience with someone. It probably didn't last for too long!

Dreamcatcher by Anna Leonard: When I first read this story, I really didn't care for Emma. I felt she was overly stubborn, pig-headed. However, the second time around I took notice to details I didn't see before. In her life, everyone wants and expects her to be able to handle anything thrown her way. When people have expectations of you, you try to live up to them. But sometimes, the weight of the world becomes too much for just one person's shoulders. You get to see Emma's vulnerable side and it becomes easier to relate to her.

Matthew struggles with his inner demon. His profession is caring for people, in a way to compensate for putting them in need in the first place.

I really liked the beginning ad middle of this story, but I felt the ending became too difficult to visualize ad that's where I got lost. Even the second time around! I did appreciate the fact that Emma and Matthew got to know each for a little while before deciding that they had to spend forever, together. They actually had conversations and learned things about each other. But hey, sometimes a fly-by fling or love-at-first-sight can be fun too, right?

Mahina's Storm by Vivi Anna: This is a story of two colleagues, knowing each other and working together several times, through the years.

Mahina, police captain and lycanm is strong-minded and independent. She doesn't get involved with men for too long and feels the need to have control over everything in her life.

Ren has been harboring feelings for Mahina for years asher fellow officer and lycan. This is red hot! He's strong, gorgeous (in my head, anyway) and dominating, in the sexy way. Mahina won't admit to their mutual attraction to each other but he won't take no for an answer.

This story has a touch of danger and excitement, suspense and more than one steamy moment. This was one of my favorites stories in the book. It was a little too short. I would have enjoyed another chapter or two.

It was a fun game of cat and mouse.

Broken Storm by Bonnie Vanak: Didn't read.

Who Should Read This: Mature audience! Sexual content and all that good stuff...*ahem*, that is, of course, if you're into that *ahem* kind of stuff... The whole book is about finding The One in someone - or something - you never thought to look.

Great read!